Hard Words
by Chris James
Summary: A divergence from the 'Ten-Year-Sauce' story line. What if Akane had been a bit more honest with Ranma


Hard Words 

Disclaimer: Ranma, Akane and all their accompanying associates do not belong to me, but are copyright of Rumiko Takahashi and those to whom she has granted license. (It's always the way, everyone else gets better toys than me. Sigh.) I have no money, please do not sue. 

Hard Words 

by Chris James

Ranma sighed as he lay on his back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling and trying to think of a way to get out of this latest mess. While life on the road hadn't really left him with much knowledge about relationships, he was fairly certain that a person's love-life was meant to be go something along the lines of boy meets girl, they fall in love, they get engaged, they get married and live happily ever after'. It was definitely not meant to go boy gets dragged off from home by his father at an early age, boy meets chef-girl, chef-girl falls in love with boy, boy thinks chef-girl's a boy, boy and chef-girl get engaged without anyone informing boy about it, boy's father steals chef-girl's source of livelihood and runs off, taking boy away from first actual friend, leaving chef-girl to becomes world-championship-level grudge holder, father takes boy to China, father and boy get cursed, boy meets amazon-girl, amazon-girl swears eternal vengeance on boy (who is, at this time, a girl), boy and father spend a month or so running for their lives, boy meets yet another girl, boy gets engaged to girl, boy faboy does NOT develop feelings for that uncute tomboy, nope nope nope, it was all our father's idea; boy meets crazy chick, crazy chick develops sick obsession with boy, amazon-girl shows up and announces that she's already married to boy, chef-girl shows up and re-falls in love with boy who only now realises that chef-girl's a girl; boy begins to suspect that someone, somewhere has it in for him' and that was without mentioning insane kendoists, crossdressers and shudder ice-skaters.

To Ranma, the whole thing seemed like some never ending farce. He only had to look at his current predicament to see that. Ukyo Kuonji, okonomiyaki chef and his cute fiancee', was staying at the Tendo house while she got over the shock of how badly her ten-year-aged legendary sauce' had turned out. Ranma, guiltily aware that less than sterling quality of the sauce was his fault (he'd been certain that he'd re-mixed it right, but it seemed that at six-years old, his culinary skills were pretty close to Akane's current ones), he had simply tried to help his old friend get over her disappointment. Ukyo, however, had taken his behaviour as the fulfilment of a childhood promise that he would look after her for the rest of her life' or something like that. With her offering to scrub his back in the bath, and trying to sleep in his bed with him, it was almost as bad as having Shampoo living with them.

Ranma grimaced. He'd tried to explain to Ukyo that he'd been the one that had made that horrible mixture, he honestly had, but she wouldn't believe him, instead blaming Akane for forcing her Ran-chan to lie'. Feh. Pop, Soun, Nabiki, Kodachi or Shampoo, Happosai or the Old Ghoul, any of them he could see trying to do something like that, but Akane was one of the few people he knew who wasn't going all out to try and control him like that. Sure she'd whack him if she thought he was doing something perverted or wrong, but if he'd actually done half of the stuff that she thought he'd done, he'd have deserved the pummelling. She jumped to conclusions about him, but at least she didn't expect him to happily dance along to whatever tune she played. He just wished that she'd give him a chance to explain occasionally.

Actually, he mused, the only times that Akane had assisted him in lying was when it had been for his benefit, either to hide his curse or like she'd just done after Ukyo had refused to believe what he'd told her about the sauce. Then she'd been going along with Nabiki's plan to convince Ukyo that he and Akane were already married. That sure as heck hadn't been to her advantage, but she'd still done her best. True, having her make his lunch had nearly killed him; and having to sleep in the same room, especially when, in her sleep she'd mistaken his head for her cute little P-chan', that had beenthat had been well, he wasn't completely sure what that been doing to him, but he definitely knew his nerves couldn't take another night of it.

After that, Ranma had thought that if he could just convince Ukyo that he was the classic bad husband' that she'd leave, but all his plans had failed. Pretending to be abusive (a difficult task for someone who tried to avoid hitting girls), acting drunk, getting lipstick on his collar, none of it had worked. Which left him where he was now, lying on the floor of the Tendo spare bedroom while Ukyo pottered around, tidying up their' room. 

"Ranma."

He had to think of some way to get Ukyo to give up on him. It couldn't be that hard to offend someone could it?

"Ranma?"

Maybe if he got some of his friends to come over to smoke, drink and gamble or something. Of course the problem with that was he didn't smoke, he didn't drink, he couldn't play cards to save his life, and the only friends he really had, Hiroshi and Daisuke, were two of the biggest gossip-mongers in the school and they'd surely blow the whole thing way out of proportion when they told people about it back at school.

"RANMA!"

Ranma flicked himself up into a sitting position and looked into Ukyo's face, on which a death scowl was transformed into an uber-cute smile as soon as she got his attention. " I've been trying to get your attention for the last minute Ranma Honey. Why don't you go and get yourself cleaned up and come back here to bed? I'll have it set up by then" said Ukyo, patting the futon beside her. 

Ranma froze for a moment. This was bad. For a second his mind was stuck in full panic mode. Ukyo was meant to have left by now, things should have back to normal by now, he shouldn't be here now, Akane was going to KILL HIM NOW!!! Suddenly something inside him clicked, as he was successfully able to merge the Saotome Secret Technique (run away until you can think of a better attack) with the last part of his plan to drive of Ukyo (make her think that he's being unfaithful). Standing up and walking to the door, his face took on a hard countenance. 

"I won't be home tonight." Ranma said.

"Where are you going?" Asked Ukyo, looking mildly dismayed.

Ranma turned his head back towards her. "Where do you think? To see my mistress." And with that he left, closing the door behind him. He didn't actually start breathing until he was a few steps down the hallway. I've got to think of someway to end this'. He looked at the duck-shaped nameplate in front him. Maybe talking to Akane could give him some ideas about what to do. Not that he was asking for help or anything. Besides, he had to somewhere or else Ukyo would get suspicious.

----------------

Akane's reaction to being informed that Ranma was in her room because he'd told Ukyo that he was going to see his mistress was as violent as it was predictable.

"Who are you calling your mistress!?" yelled the shorthaired tomboy, her bamboo practice sword raining down like a sledgehammer on Ranma's head.

"Hear me out, will you!?" He pleaded as he scrambled back towards the door.

"Oo, I hate you!" Akane cried as she brought her sword up to the ready position again.

Ranma closed his eyes and held up his arms in an attempt to ward off the blows that he knew he was about to receive. It therefore came as surprise to him when, as the seconds stretched out, no strikes were forthcoming. Cautiously he cracked open one eye. Akane, still fuming, slowly lowered her weapon. "Well?" She said, her stare clearly conveying the message that-this-had-better-be-good-or-else. Ranma gulped.

Kneeling beside the bed and fixing his eyes on the floor, he tried to explain himself. "You see, I thought if I could convince Ukyo that I was a lousy husband, that then she'd give up on me and leave. That's why I tried overturned the table at dinner. I tried a couple of other things, but none of them worked."

Akane snorted and plopped down in her chair. "So this whole time you were trying to get Ukyo to hate you!?"

"I thought it was perfect plan, too."

"You're so stupid." Akane said exasperatedly. "It's easy. All you have to do is treat her the way you treat me all the time."

Despite their light tone, the words sent a cold shock down Ranma's spine. Echoing through his mind came every harsh name that he'd ever called her. 'Dork! Macho! Lunkhead! Built like a brick! UNCUTE TOMBOY!!!'

Still in his kneeling position, he hopped up onto the bed "Hey AkaneHave I hurt you that much?"

"Huh?"

Ranma leaned closer to Akane, peering into her eyes. This question was important to him in a way he couldn't quite understand, and he had to force the words out past the tight feeling in his chest. "Do you hate me that much!?"

Akane pulled back and looked away. She hadn't meant to let that out, hadn't meant to let Ranma know how much his taunts affected her, she didn't want to show any signs of weakness to him. She'd been keeping her feelings hidden behind name-calling and violence for so long, she wasn't sure if she was ready to let them out yet.

----------------

Scowling, Ukyo pressed her ear against Akane's bedroom door harder. This wasn't good; the pair inside the room should have been fighting by this point. Instead they were talking, though at least that had let her understand why Ran-chan had been acting so strange. Really, didn't he know that she'd stick with him through anything?! Akane should know that she didn't stand a chance of getting between them. Poor girl, she never really had a hope; and though alls fair in love and war', Ukyo almost pitied her. That's why, the chef decided, she'd give them five more seconds to start fighting again before she went in there and showed the little hussy the error of her ways. The only thing was to find a way to do it cutely. 

----------------

Akane looked back up at Ranma. The look in his eyes was pleading, almost fearful. Her first instinct was to deny it, say that it didn't matter to her, to not let him know anything that might make that pained look on his face worse but something stopped her. She could remember Dr Tofu talking to her when she'd come to him with a cut she'd left untended for too long. "Akane," he'd said "ignoring a wound won't make it go away. You have to treat it, even if doing so hurts. Only then can the healing begin." She drew in a ragged breath.

"Ranma, your insults do hurt me. They hurt me a lot."

Ranma's face was pale, a stricken expression pasted across it. His entire body seemed caught somewhere between making an all-out flight and collapsing into heap. Looking into his eyes, Akane gave him a small, sad smile. "I don't hate you though. I hate the way you treat me sometimes, the way you mock my skills, the way you make fun of my looks, but I can't bring myself to hate you Ranma, not really. I just wish you wouldn't hurt me so much."

Ranma gulped and bowed his head. For a moment, the silence between them seemed intense, as though the house itself was holding its breath. When Ranma spoke, his words were so faint that they could barely be heard.

"I'm sorry Akane."

----------------

Flattening the side of her head to the door, Ukyo strained to hear what was going on in the bedroom. Whatever they were saying, things certainly weren't going anywhere near as violently as she had expected them to. Slowly she reached for the doorhandle. She had to do this just right: bright and cheerfully, to let her Ran-chan know who was best for him, with just a touch of menace, to give Akane the message that she really shouldn't be messing about with other people's fiancés.

"Ukyo, I think Akane's rather busy talking with Ranma at the moment," Kasumi cheerfully said, "could you wait for short while until their finished?"

Spinning around whilst trying desperately not to swallow her tongue, Ukyo stared wildly into the face of the mistress of the Tendo household. Where the heck did you come from!' was she wanted to scream, but somehow that just didn't right in dealing with Kasumi. "Um, actually I just needed to see Ranma for a second, I'll only"

"I'm sure that he'll be happy to speak with you as soon as he and Akane have finished their chat." Kasumi cut in. "In the mean time, would you be able to come downstairs and help me with some preparations for tomorrow's breakfast? It's not often I have the chance to work alongside such a talented young chef as yourself."

Ukyo's mouth worked soundlessly for a moment as she tried to come up with a good excuse that would let her get into Akane's room, but every idea that she had melted before the brightness of the hopeful and innocent look on Kasumi's face. Go away, you crazy housewife! Can't you see you're standing in the way of True Love?!' yelled her mind. "Okay, sure, happy to help." Said her voice as she mournfully followed the eldest Tendo daughter down the stairs

----------------

Akane watched the face of her finance carefully, hoping earnestly that this wasn't another one of his tricks. "Really Ranma? Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah Akane, I am. I never meant to hurt you, never; I just... I dunno. My whole life I've spent with Pop and I know he's never let up on me. He's always yelling about I should be better, about how worthless a son I am."

"Ranma, that's horrible!"

He shrugged. "It doesn't mean much to me any more, at least never for very long. I know he's just trying to stir me up, get me to try harder, but I guess he's just rubbed off on me." The thought of it made him shudder.

"Besides Ukyo when I was little, the only people besides Pop that I ever spent and time with were the guys at the boys-schools that I went to, and well, things were kind of rough in those places. You act even the tiniest bit sensitive about people's feelings and you get people making fun of you, so in the end you just sorta end up not thinking too much about that sort of thing. I really didn't know I was hurting you. You called me a pervert and I just fought back without thinking."

"I'm sorry about that Ranma." Akane said with a sigh. "Maybe if I hadn't done that things would started out better between us. You have to understand, I'd been having so much trouble with the idiots at school that when you showed up it was so hard not to think you were just like them. Then you started insulting my skills and my looks Ranma, the Art is my passion, the thing that sets me apart from my sisters. Even if you are better, it still hurts to have you mock me about it! And my figure —am I really that ugly to you?"

Her words held no anger, only a desperate desire for the truth, and for once Ranma couldn't muster up one of his usual taunts. "No. Not at all. You I" His face flushed red, his gaze sunk down to his lap, where his fingers were twiddling nervously. "I wasn't just trying to get you off balance when I said you're cute when you smile'. You are. Very cute."

A warm feeling of joy spread through Akane, and she reached over and took her fiancé's hands in hers.

Bringing his head up, Ranma guiltily looked into her eyes. "I'm really sorry Akane. I'll try to stop being such an idiot. I don't want to be my Pop." He said, and then, more quietly "I don't want you to hate me." 

"I don't." whispered Akane, giving his hand a slight squeeze. Once again, a silence fell between, but this time not one of awkwardness or pain, which stretched at the nerves and tightened the vocal cords; but one of relief, of contentment, of things said which needed to be said; one which they were, for now, happy to let be.

End, for now.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES (or The Case For The Defence.)

Ranma 1/2 is full of those small moments in which something important could be said but isn't. They make me laugh, but, being the hopeless romantic that I am, I can't help but wish that Ranma and Akane would get their act together enough to actually say something right for once. So here, through the magic of fan-fiction, I bring you my take on how one scene could have gone just that little bit better (or at least, less physically painful). No big drama, no passionate kisses, no declarations of undying love; just a little more openness and two people understanding each other a bit better.

My thanks to all the people whose divergence stories have inspired my to write this, especially KaraOhki and Art Hansen.

Comments & Criticism are most certainly welcome (After all, what's a play without an audience, an applause, and even a rotten tomato or three?), though please have some mercy upon me, as this is the first fic I've actually managed to get out of my head and onto the keyboard. If anyone thinks it's a good idea, I may write another chapter detailing how Kasumi's little chat with Ukyo goes, whether Ranma leaves Akane's room under his own power, and how the whole ten-year sauce arc finishes up. If not, I'll probably just go onto doing one of the other stories that's been bubbling around in my brain. Your choice people.


End file.
